Fall 2014 Class Descriptions

2-4 credit(s), H/P/L/F GradedRequirement: SkillsConcentration(s): LLM in International Law (LLMI), International Law (LLMC), Public Interest Law (JD)

Students gain practical experience through interviewing, counseling, and representing clients with immigration-related problems. Students have the opportunity to assist clients with a range of immigration issues such as naturalization, lawful permanent residency, derivative citizenship, deferred action, and U-visa and VAWA for domestic violence and abuse victims. Students may attend U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services interviews related to their client’s applications. Students may also attend and participate in community immigration outreach. Weekly meetings are held with the clinic supervisor and other interns to discuss immigration law, practical application and casework. The clinic is graded on a 4-tier Pass-Fail basis. No Prerequisites.

1-4 credit(s), H/P/L/F GradedRequirement: SkillsConcentration(s): LLM in International Law (LLMI), International Law (LLMC), Public Interest Law (JD)

Students gain practical experience through interviewing, counseling, and representing clients with immigration-related problems. Students have the opportunity to assist clients with a range of immigration issues such as naturalization, lawful permanent residency, derivative citizenship, deferred action, and U-visa and VAWA for domestic violence and abuse victims. Students may attend U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services interviews related to their client’s applications. Students may also attend and participate in community immigration outreach. Weekly meetings are held with the clinic supervisor and other interns to discuss immigration law, practical application and casework. The clinic is graded on a 4-tier Pass-Fail basis. No Prerequisites.

3 credit(s), P/F GradedConcentration(s): Business and Corporate Law (LLMC), LLM in Business and Corporate Law (LLMB), Business and Corporate Law (JD), Business and Corporate Law (MSLS)Prerequisite(s): CorporationsRecommended Class(es): Tax I

This seminar will explore the practical and theoretical aspects of innovation, markets, and financial regulation. The course will have three elements. First, the instructors will present an overview of the key fundamental concepts that underpin modern financial markets, including: financial innovation, derivatives, shareholder activism, valuation methodologies, tax and accounting treatment, and regulatory arbitrage. Second, the instructors will meet with students individually to discuss potential career paths and students will draft a specific plan of study and action related to their career paths. Third, guest lecturers from practice and academia will present new developments and research, and the instructors will introduce and comment on each presentation. Students will write short papers related to class meetings, including a final Career Path Plan, a document that will incorporate material from the presentations and class, and set forth a road map and business plan for each student’s anticipated, or hoped for, career path.

Pass/Fail. Students will write approximately ten short papers (i.e., roughly one per class meeting, with some exceptions), including a final Career Path Plan that incorporates material from the presentations.

This course places students at local law firms to provide legal assistance to a wide variety of technology companies, independent inventors, artists, musicians, and others in need of pro bono IP work in the areas of patent and trademark prosecution as well as licensing and litigation in all IP fields. Students will be supervised by attorneys at local law firms as well as the professors. The course will begin with 5-6 weeks of class sessions covering the core types of transactions encountered in technology startups. There are no scheduled classes during the remainder of the semester; instead, students will work with clients and supervising lawyers each week, and meet one-on-one with the professors on a regular basis. An application process will be used to select students for the course. Students who registered for the course during 2013-2014 may not apply for the course for 2014-2015. Students may only begin the course in the fall semester, and may continue in the spring semester, but are not required to do so. Interested students may also apply to both the Technology Entrepreneurship Clinic, but will be selected for only one clinic. The course application and additional course information will be emailed no later than Friday, April 2, 2014. Students who do not receive an application by then, or who have questions about the course after reviewing the application, may email Professor Ted Sichelman, tsichelman@sandiego.edu. The deadline to submit an application for this course is Friday, April 25, 2014.

Note: There are limitations on JD concentration eligibility. Please check the Intellectual Property Concentration web page for more information.

This course provides a broad overview of intellectual property law. After discussing the policies underlying the protection of intellectual property rights, we will cover trade secret, patent, copyright, and trademark law, and related doctrines such as the right of publicity. These topics will be examined with a focus on new technologies, but a science or technical background is not required. This course provides a foundation for advanced intellectual property courses and is also appropriate for students who seek only a general understanding of intellectual property law.

Note: May be applied as part of the six required credits for the Intellectual Property Concentration (JD).

2 credit(s), Standard Letter GradedConcentration(s): International Law (MSLS), Business and Corporate Law (MSLS), LLM in International Law (LLMI), International Law (LLMC), Business and Corporate Law (LLMC), LLM in Business and Corporate Law (LLMB), International Law (JD), Business and Corporate Law (JD)

This course is the study of international commercial arbitration that emphasizes the Asia/Pacific region’s practices and arbitral regimes. The study will use The Convention on the International Sale of Good (CISG) to study all facets of sales and trade in goods from contract formation, terms, obligations, performance, breaches, excuses and remedies. The study of arbitration clauses and the practices of the arbitral institutions in the Asia-Pacific region is a focus. The steps from initiating arbitration, appointing arbitrators, composition of arbitral tribunals, procedures including written and oral submissions and the scope and limits on evidence are all considered. The course will address the UNCITRAL Model Law for arbitration and compare it to Asia-Pacific arbitral systems including CIETAC, HKIAC, and CEAC. The substance, procedural and conflicts of law situations will be addressed. The course objective is to develop the capacity to be able to engage in arbitration processes in the Asia-Pacific Region for international commercial sales and trade disputes. The classes, materials and certain model problems will facilitate that objective. The class also builds the very different research approaches and skills required to determine issues under The CISG, including those from recognized international principles, writings of scholars, rules and guidelines together with principles from arbitral decisions. The course will be required for incoming 2L VICAM candidates and is also open to all other eligible students. The only prerequisite for this course is for JD students who should have completed all of the required first-year courses and be in their second year. The course will be letter-graded based on a final take-home examination consisting of two equally-weighted questions.

3 credit(s), Standard Letter GradedConcentration(s): International Law (MSLS), LLM in International Law (LLMI), International Law (LLMC), International Law (JD), Civil Litigation (JD)Prerequisite(s): Civil Procedure

International Civil Litigation will deal with a variety of issues which arise in international litigation in courts of the United States. Likely to be included are Judicial jurisdiction; service of process abroad; forum selection; taking evidence abroad; Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act of 1976; subject matter and legislative jurisdiction; the Act of State Doctrine; recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments; and international arbitration.

3 credit(s), Standard Letter GradedConcentration(s): International Law (MSLS), Business and Corporate Law (MSLS), LLM in International Law (LLMI), International Law (LLMC), Business and Corporate Law (LLMC), LLM in Business and Corporate Law (LLMB), International Law (JD), Business and Corporate Law (JD)

Legal aspects of contracts for the international sale of goods under the UN Convention. Topics include the applicability of the convention and its most important substantive provisions including contract formation, choice of forum, choice of law, warranties, risk of loss, excuse and dispute resolution.

3 credit(s), Standard Letter GradedRequirement: WritingConcentration(s): Environmental and Energy Law (LLMG), International Law (LLMC), Environmental and Energy Law (LLMC), International Law (JD), Environmental and Energy Law (JD), LLM in International Law (LLMI)

The course is designed to analyze some of the major international environmental problems of interest to the United States. A wide variety of current and traditional transborder legal questions regarding international rivers, marine and air pollution, toxic waste and hazardous materials, endangered species, and nuclear radiation are discussed. Special emphasis is given to contemporary legal questions, including a special segment devoted to analyzing the bilateral environmental issues with Canada and Mexico. A research paper is required.

3 credit(s), Standard Letter GradedConcentration(s): International Law (MSLS), LLM in International Law (LLMI), International Law (LLMC), Public Interest Law (JD), International Law (JD)

In the brief span of 60 years, the idea of human rights has grown tremendously. What began as a marginal utopian discourse has today arguably become “the dominant moral narrative for thinking about world affairs.” At the same time, rights remain controversial and contested, and gaps in enforcement of human rights norms are conspicuous. This course examines the actors, organizations and ideas behind these developments, as well as the vast challenges we face today in attempting to enforce human rights norms globally. The course begins by examining the philosophical and political bases for the international human rights idea, probing the ongoing debate over universality, culture, and human rights. Aspart of this inquiry, we also examine the normative pillars of international human rights law. In the second part of the course, we will analyze various dimensions and challenges of human rights enforcement, including the main United Nations and regional human rights systems, prosecutions and transitional justice, the advocacy work of NGOs and human rights activists, and the new concept of the “responsibility to protect,” or R2P. In the final part of the semester, we will engage in a more in-depth examination of several distinct human rights issues, including torture and women’s rights. In all this, the course aims to provide students with knowledge of human rights at the level of intellectual theory and discourse, as well as a realm of concrete, “real world” action, controversy, and struggle. The final course grade will be based on a written paper, an oral presentation, and several short assignments.

3 credit(s), H/P/L/F GradedRequirement: SkillsConcentration(s): International Law (LLMC), International Law (JD), Civil Litigation (JD), LLM in International Law (LLMI)

The course will include specific materials and skill-building exercises on cross-cultural aspects of the bargaining process. Participants will include lawyers from other nations who are enrolled in USD's LLMC program, and upper class American JD students. Four-tier Pass/Fail grading.

Note: Students may only elect this course, Alternative Dispute Resolution or Negotiation to count towards the Civil Litigation Concentration (JD).Additional Information:Civil Litigation Concentration

3 credit(s), Standard Letter GradedRequirement: WritingConcentration(s): LLM in International Law (LLMI), International Law (LLMC), International Law (JD)

This seminar provides an intense study of the international redress movement. The focus is on claims from around the world that seek redress for human injustice under post-Holocaust conditions. Among other claims studied are those brought against Germany for Nazi persecution, Japan for its "comfort women" system, South Africa for Apartheid, and the United States for a number of injustices, including its genocidal campaigns against Native Americans, the internment of Japanese Americans, and the enslavement and segregation of African Americans. Drawing on legal and political analyses, government documents, personal testimonies, and historical narratives, a broad array of questions will be considered ranging from the particular-e.g., Why does the United States offer millions of dollars to Japanese Americans relocated to concentration camps during World War II but offers not even an apology to African Americans for 2 1/2 centuries of slavery? -to the general-e.g., Is there a beast in all political regimes waiting to be unleashed by extraordinary fear, greed or fury? Class attendance is essential. A paper will be required.

Students admitted to the seminar who are not in attendance the first day of class and who do complete the assignment for the first day of class may forfeit their place in class.

Note: Students may only elect this course or International Human Rights to count towards the International Law Concentration (JD).

3 credit(s), Standard Letter GradedConcentration(s): LLM in International Law (LLMI), LLM in Taxation (LLMT), Taxation (LLMC), International Law (LLMC), Business and Corporate Law (LLMC), LLM in Business and Corporate Law (LLMB), Business and Corporate Law (JD), Business and Corporate Law (MSLS), International Law (MSLS), Taxation (MSLS)Prerequisite(s): Tax IRecommended Class(es): Tax II

This basic course in international taxation will focus on the principles relating to the taxation of foreign persons (individuals as well as legal entities) by the United States and the U.S. taxation of income received by U.S. individuals and entities from activities abroad. Topics will include principles of international tax jurisdiction; rules relating to the source of income and deductions; the foreign tax credit; Section 482 and transfer pricing; foreign currency translations; international double taxation treaties and an introduction to controlled foreign corporations. This is an advanced tax course with priority enrollment for LLM in Taxation students.

This course provides advanced training in the skills of client interviewing and counseling. The first part of the course is devoted to learning the specific micro-skills that make up effective interviewing through readings, demonstrations and role-plays. The second- part focuses on the counseling dimension of lawyer-client relationships. In addition to classroom preparation and activities, students will interview actual clients in various locales, including the USD Legal Clinic, the San Diego County Law Library Clinic, and several senior citizen centers. Ethical issues unique to interviewing and counseling are emphasized. The course is graded on a 4-tier Pass-Fail basis.

Introduction to United States Law is a required course for Master of Comparative Law students. No other students may enroll. This course comparatively introduces distinctly American approaches to law, lawyering and legal processes. Special emphasis is placed on the common law tradition.

This course studies how firms in different markets use intellectual property rights. The point is to see how different rights affect different business models. The class will meet (in person or virtually) with business people and lawyers from different firms; during these sessions students will lead discussion and ask questions. Students will then write short (2-3 pages) papers on the relationship of IP rights to the business model in question. These papers will be discussed among students the following week. Possible models include Google Books, computer games, motion pictures, and open-source software. Grading will be based on the quality of questions asked the business people and on the papers. There will be no final exam. Prerequisite: One of the following, IP Survey, Copyright, Patent Law or Trademark Law.

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